Case Number 01384

GANDHI

The Charge

"We must be the change we wish to see."

Opening Statement

It took 20 years for Richard Attenborough's vision of producing and directing
a film on the life of Gandhi to come to fruition. The saga began in 1962 when a
staff member of the Indian High Commission in London approached him about such a
project. Only in 1980, however, had he managed at last to round up enough money
(the project was budgeted at $22 million) to proceed. With 37-year-old British
stage actor Ben Kingsley signed to play the title role, shooting began in
November 1980 and was completed six months later. Most of the shooting was done
on location in India, with the balance in London and at the Pinewood Studios in
England.

The completed film premiered in New Delhi and then opened in the U.S. in
December 1982. It went on to garner nine Academy Awards for Best Picture,
Director, Actor, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction, Costumes,
and Set Decoration.

Columbia has now released Gandhi on DVD in a superb-looking
edition.

Facts of the Case

Gandhi provides a profile of the life of Mohandas Gandhi by focusing
on a number of the key events in the great man's life, including: his rude
introduction to apartheid in South Africa, his return to India and dedication to
the traditional Indian ways, the first protest against British rule via the
burning of ID cards, the massacre led by General Dyer, the Dharasana Saltworks
protest, the various fasts and imprisonments, Indian independence, and his
eventual assassination.

The Evidence

The key to the success of Gandhi is the casting of Ben Kingsley as the
Mahatma (Great Soul). To begin with, one must note that it is rather ironic that
a film that details the life of a man dedicated to the removal of British
dominance from his homeland turns to a man of that very country to portray him.
Whether that was ever an issue during the actual making of the film in India is
not mentioned in any of the supplementary material that appears on the DVD, but
one can only assume that it was, for at least some individuals. But while it may
rankle that Gandhi was not played by an Indian actor, there can be no argument
that Kingsley's portrayal is altogether a sensitive, accurate, and compelling
effort. It's difficult to see how it could be improved upon. Of course, Kingsley
had the advantage of starting with a facial structure and body size that could
be molded to resemble closely that of Gandhi himself. Kingsley applied himself
to a program of weight reduction and gradual tanning that eventually gave him a
realistic Gandhi look. His ability as a mimic enabled him to copy Gandhi's voice
intonations virtually perfectly. With an extremely fine script to work from,
Kingsley then managed to deliver a convincing and commanding portrayal. The
finest acting performance I have ever seen was that of George C. Scott in
Patton, but Ben Kingsley's work in Gandhi is one of a handful of
performances that come very close.

Mind you, reading the credits on the back of the DVD, one would think that
Gandhi was made only with Western actors. Other than Ben Kingsley, the
only others mentioned are a number of guest stars including Candice Bergen,
Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, and Martin Sheen. Although
these individuals are all fine in their roles (and, one supposes, necessary to
secure the film's financing, not to mention fun guessing who's going to pop up
next), it means that a number of fine Indian actors are overlooked. Rohini
Hattangady, for example, is memorable as Kasturba, Gandhi's wife, and Roshan
Seth gives a superb performance as Pandit Nehru. In fact, all the members of
Gandhi's inner circle are well-portrayed by actors little known in the West
(Saeed Jaffrey as Sardar Patel, Alyque Padamsee as Mohamed Ali Jannah, and
Amrish Puri as Khan) -- with perhaps the exceptions of Seth and Puri.

Gandhi is one of the last of the great film epics with a literal
rather than digitally-produced cast of thousands. There are 189 scenes in the
shooting script requiring 87 settings. Some of them, including Gandhi's "He
is coming" arrival at the train station and his speech to the masses in the
hills are great spectacles, but nothing compares to the reconstruction of the
funeral procession with its multitudes of people. The power of the sequence is
reflected in Kingsley's own comments (heard on one of the DVD supplements) on
how moved -- even shaken -- he was being transported amongst the crowd as he lay
in state as the dead Gandhi. These scenes are skillfully orchestrated and
beautifully framed by director Richard Attenborough. Attenborough's track record
may be a bit spotty (A Chorus Line and to a lesser extent Chaplin
didn't really click, but Shadowlands, Young Winston, and Cry
Freedom were winners), but here he's on top of his game and his Best
Director Oscar was well deserved. Backing up Attenborough are all the trappings
appropriate to a large-scale epic, from a long yet literate script, to music
both majestic and traditional by George Fenton and Ravi Shankar, to expansive
cinematography by Billy Williams.

Columbia has delivered a winner of a DVD for Gandhi. The centerpiece
is a beautiful 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer of the film. There have been a few
rumblings of late about less-than-sterling transfers from Columbia, but that's
not the case here. The image is crystal clear and colours are bright and
faithfully rendered. There are essentially no nicks or scratches, and contrast
and shadow detail are excellent. Edge enhancement is virtually non-existent.

Turning to the audio, Columbia has provided a Dolby Digital 5.1 English
track and 2.0 stereo surround French and Spanish tracks. The 5.1 track does a
nice job of delivering Gandhi's pleasures. It's not a particularly
enveloping sound, as the surrounds are not used perhaps as much as they might
be, but the dialogue is rich and clear and the music is beautifully conveyed.
Ravi Shankar's traditional Indian music fares particularly well. A nice moment
occurs at the intermission when the screen goes black and you can just sit back
and be drawn into his music for a short interlude. The same is somewhat true
during the closing credits.

Although this is a single-disc presentation of a rather long film (190
minutes), Columbia has managed to give us an array of short supplements. In a
2000 interview with Ben Kingsley of 20 minutes duration, we get a nice feel for
the manner in which Kingsley approached the role of Gandhi. Kingsley is quite
forthright in his comments about his abilities and he also provides interesting
insights into working with several of the other principals. A five-minute photo
montage on the making of the film follows this. The supplement package then
turns to the real Gandhi, first providing a series of quotations from the man
himself, and then showing four newsreel segments ranging from one to four
minutes in length. These cover a trip to England, Gandhi's farewell talk in
Europe, the beginning of the death fast, and Gandhi's first talking picture. As
one might expect, the image quality is not great and there's the normal
age-related hiss in the narration, but it is fascinating to have these actual
scenes of Gandhi available to us. The special features conclude with selected
filmographies for the filmmakers (but none of the Indian actors), the theatrical
trailer, and some production notes included on the disc insert pamphlet.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I'm very pleased with what we did receive in this DVD package. I must confess
though that I was somewhat disappointed not to have an audio commentary from
Richard Attenborough or a thorough making-of documentary. It seems to me that
Gandhi was a very personal journey for Attenborough and I would have
liked to have heard his thoughts in one form or another about the difficulties
in getting the film funded and also the logistics of filming in India. Perhaps
his age or other commitments precluded this. If so, that's unfortunate, given
that many much-lesser films seem to be accorded such supplements.

It's also disappointing to look at the real world more than 50 years after
Gandhi's death and think about the divisions that spoiled his dream of a unified
India of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians. The same hatreds and prejudices
that forced the separate countries of India and Pakistan to be created instead
of one single nation continue to create tension in the Indian sub-continent.
Similar religious intolerances continue to raise their heads in other locations
around the world -- Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia, the Middle East. The list
seems endless, but more depressing is the fact that the solution seems
impossibly distant as long as such intolerances are continually passed down from
generation to generation.

Closing Statement

Gandhi is a film of the early '80s that's one of the last of the big
epics. It contains one of finest acting performances on film and backs it with
plenty of worthy supporting efforts from actors both familiar and unfamiliar. We
get glimpses of a country seldom seen in mainstream British or American films
and a history lesson that many have little awareness of. It all adds up to a
must-see film for which Columbia has provided a superb DVD presentation (despite
the lack of an audio commentary or thorough making-of documentary). Highly
recommended.

The Verdict

Both defendant and accomplice Columbia are completely exonerated. The
prosecution is urged to go on a fast to purge itself of whatever bad thoughts
possessed it to even bring this one to trial. This court is adjourned.